The Widening Gyre (open)

Adam's surprise didn't really register as Jigano began to wash away the rest of the blood from his body. The cloth of his tunic had soaked up most of it, but some had still gotten through to dry gummily to his arms and torso, the darkly flaking mess taking on a redder hue once more as it mixed with the water and smeared across the honeyed color of his skin. Lost as he was he still found himself listening to Adam, hearing the other man's candor in a way he would appreciate later, when light returned to the world again and the dead had been given their memorials and burials or pyres and sent to rest.

He did hear the empathy in the scoundrel's voice, though, and the attempt to help. It was that, much more than the cold water, which brought him a little further back to the present and the world of the living, and he nodded slowly as he reached for a cloth to pat himself dry. "Perhaps... I should," he said quietly. "Though in this case it would be more like a distraction than work." He finally looked up, but seeing Adam's gaze courteously turned elsewhere he only paused for a moment before he reached for his bloody tunic, dunking it into the bucket and beginning to scrub the worst of the bloodstains from it. The fabric was likely ruined, but good clothing was not so easy to replace and he needed to salvage what he could of it for the future.

A future without Caiside.

"Teaching you is... it is no hardship, Adam. Teaching others to read and play instruments is a pleasure for me." No one dying, no one accusing him of being foolish or unprepared or a failure. No one getting lost or stolen. They were small things, those lessons, but they were moments of brightness in his day, a way to help someone without it being the end of the world.

The question brought a faint wince to his face and he shook his head, sighing softly. "Not... none who I would want to see me like this," he admitted softly. He needed to be strong for Sam and Kiada, and in showing Amalia his weakness before he had only hurt her more. Rory was far away, separated by miles of monster-infested night and Remi wasn't close enough for him to feel comfortable asking so much of the alchemist. Of the rest? Isla and Caiside were dead and could never help him again. It was a sobering realization, and he finally shivered against the chill that settled into his chest rather than the cool water drying on his skin.

Adam was so used to being a trouble that hearing Jigano didn't mind teaching him was a bit of a surprise. He had always been people's lovable burden, the mess friend. Though he supposed he was actually being pretty responsible at the moment. Things really had changed in the last year. "...Then sure, lemme know whenever you want and I'll struggle my way through some sentences for you." He didn't think Jigano really seemed so bad friends shouldn't see him, but he wasn't going to insist. "Man, my friends have seen me puking in gutters naked, singing and with my mouth all cut open." Adam gestured along his scars, one of which crossed through his bottom lip. Still looking away, he closed his eyes and tilted his head back. "Do y'know what he'd want done with his body? If you...if y'need help burying him or anything, I'll help." He really didn't know who this kind person that had taken over his mouth was, but he found he really meant the offer.{/b} A D A M Do you wanna dance? Do you wanna fight? Do you wanna get drunk and stay the night?

"Alright," Jigano agreed, a flicker of gratitude mixed with relief rising through his grief. It was something to focus on, a point in the future beyond this moment of aching pain and uselessness. Something small and normal in the midst of nightmares and soul-devouring monsters in the darkest week, where death was more common than life and light was in desperately short supply.

Adam had a very different life than Jigano did, as was made clear with his tale of excess and inebriation, and the bard blinked in dull surprise at the casual gesture to the fearsome scars that marked the other man. "How... did it happen?" he found himself asking, a flicker of curiosity finally rising through the suppressing effects of his mourning.

"...Caiside?" He asked, as though Adam could mean anything else. "...A pyre. His sire was a sun god, and fire was a part of him before he came to Caido. Ending it in flames... he would appreciate that, I think."

Adam realised, as Jigano asked about his scars, that he'd let himself say too much. He usually tried so hard to avoid discussion of the marks on his neck and chin, but the mood had been so out of his comfort zone he had been reaching for anything to fill it. Awkwardly he took in a breath, rubbed the back of his neck. "I uh...got into a fight with some rich asshole." He finally said: not a lie, but not quite the whole truth either. A pyre. Good, dramatic way to go. Adam nodded, impressed with that choice (and wishing he could claim something as cool as being sired from a Sun God). "Okay, sure. Once it's bright again, I'll help you with that. Just come get me - you know where I live, right?" He realised after asking that Jigano absolutely didn't. "In domiciles...just ask around there. I've already got a bit of a rep." Both good and bad, depending on who you asked. "You need me to get you anything else?" He asked, glancing back briefly to Jigano to see if he was decent yet. A D A M Do you wanna dance? Do you wanna fight? Do you wanna get drunk and stay the night?

Even as low as Jigano was he didn't miss the discomfort Adam showed at his question. The bard looked at his unexpected companion for a long moment at the answer he received, then gave a slow nod, acknowledging both the answer and the evasion, and choosing not to press the other man's privacy. He had his own secrets that he kept close, after all, and he could understand not wanting to talk about what had been done before Caido had stolen them (saved them?) from their former homes.

The stains were still dark on his tunic, but the blood had been washed out of it, at least. He began to wring the garment dry as they talked of Caiside's send-off, inexplicably warmed by Adam's offer of assistance. He had misjudged the rascal, he was beginning to realize, and he was glad to have been wrong. Crooked the Devil's Advocate might be, but he was not without his graces beneath the rough exterior he showed the world.

"I will ask around for you then," Jigano agreed solemnly, grateful for the help. He paused to think about the question as he stood and emptied the bucket down the drain hole. He was moving again, cleaning himself up and beginning to think through the grief. He could go find a fresh tunic after this and...

and...

Well, one thing at a time. "Thank you, Adam. I... think I'll be alright now." A patent lie, but unless Adam could bring back the dead there was nothing else to be done at the moment, so Jigano took his damp, bloodstained clothing, collected his lantern and smaller trinkets and gave the man a shallow bow before he slipped back into the hall to find his room and make himself presentable once more.